Tara gets her cowboy

Prologue

 “You’ve got to be kidding me boss” Jake exclaimed in disgust. “Going to get your daughter is not in my job description.”

   Jake towered over Frank but he felt great respect for the man who was more than just his boss. They had become great friends over the years working together on the cattle ranch that Frank owned in Texas.

“You’re my employee and most importantly you’re my friend which makes any job I give you in your job description!”

 Frank’s voice got louder as he spoke.  

 “Yes I agree that I’m your friend Frank. I am not Tara’s anything.  She drives me crazy “

he sighed as he spoke

 “The summer she came out here she spent the whole time following me around like a love sick puppy. I almost quit Frank; it was that bad”. 

 “I think that she has grown up since that summer Jake, she was young and she had a crush. You know I told you how her mom is. Tara didn’t have the most conventional childhood   Nora dragged her from one place to the next for her little causes...

 I should have fought harder for custody.”

 Frank put both hands on his head and sighed. 

“It doesn’t matter now.”

  Frank's face was haggard as if he had aged ten years in the last few days.  He sat down heavily in the nearest chair.

Jake could tell that his friend was distressed but he had no interest in dealing with Tara’s bullshit again.

“Ok I’m calm just tell me what mess Tara has gotten herself into that I am the only one that will go and rescue her from”.

  “Jake, Tara’s in trouble, real trouble this time not like when she got her car stuck on the freeway. She might not even still be alive.” 

 Tears came to Frank’s eyes and Jake started to understand the situation.

Jake instantly felt fear. It wasn’t like Frank to make more of a situation than it was but Tara was a pain in the ass. He tried hard not to think too hard about Tara over the years and if she haunted his dreams he wouldn’t admit it even to himself.  

“What kind of trouble?” he bit out. 

 When he was first hired by Frank it was as a bodyguard. Over the years Frank had made some enemies. When oil had first been discovered on his land he had attempts made on his life and he was also kidnapped briefly and that is when he hired Jake as a bodyguard disguised in the form of ranch foreman. Jake had served in the military and he had also grown up on a ranch in Montana so he could blend in and not stand out as different from the rest of the other ranch hands. 

“You know that her mom works for an organization that provides vaccines to children. They go all over the place and other countries, not just the States.”

 “Yes I remember you telling me that once.” 

 He did remember that Nora, Frank’s ex-wife, was a flighty woman who was constantly changing her causes and she had dragged Tara along for the ride up until Tara started college.  

“Did you also know that Tara has been helping her mom for the last year?”

 Well that was something that he didn’t know. The last he heard Tara was in college in California somewhere getting her teaching degree.  

 “I thought she was still in college”

 Jake said at almost a whisper; cold fear making it hard for him to breath.  

   

“Not anymore. She graduated early and she wanted to help her mom, and now I just don’t know. Alex called me an hour ago. They lost communication with Nora and Alex hasn’t been able to get in touch with them for two days. Drugs are big business in the part of Mexico they are in and I don’t even know if either one of them is still alive. They could be held for ransom. With them both being female and American I’m afraid Jake”

 Frank said with a catch to his voice. 

Jake also knew that Tara’s striking hair and blue eyes would be a great draw to slave traders. She wasn’t just beautiful, she was strikingly gorgeous. She also had a bad habit of getting herself into trouble., and from what he understood about Nora she was no better.  If they were caught by them neither one of them would ever be seen or heard from again. He got chills just thinking about it.

 Anger, cold hard anger started to burn in Jake’s gut.

 “Why the fuck was Alex not with them?” 

Jake asked while gritting his teeth.

 Alex had married Tara’s mom about three years ago and not long after Tara went back to stay with her mom and according to Frank he was a worthless piece of shit. 

 “The spineless asshole said that he didn’t feel well and didn’t want to get the kids in the village sick so he stayed behind.”

 That just pissed Jake off more.  

“Why the fuck would he let Tara go, either of them for that matter and this makes no fucking sense he should have made them wait until he was well enough to go with them, or hired a body guard to go with them” 

“Jake you know as well as I do how stubborn Tara is”.  

Jake saw the desperation in his friend's face and realized that he had little choice in this.

 Frank’s daughter Tara was a nightmare but he couldn’t not go and get her even if she tied his guts into knots.

 “When do I leave? ''

 Jake clenched his teeth and ran his hands through his hair.  Frank sighed in relief

 “I can have a plane ready in an hour”